Jewish Mumsnetter Section

[Asthebellcurves]

I was asked by Mumsnet to start a post here to request a Jewish Mumsnetter section. This request comes out of a thread where Jewish people were discussing ethnic and religious identities that was then co-opted by others refusing to provide space for those conversations. Thus illustrating the need for a distinct Jewish space on here. Of course, Jewish conversation and contribution is valuable across mumsnet, but a neat space for Jewish perspectives to be protected and valued is a great addition - just as Black, South Asian, Welsh, Irish and Scottish mumsnetters have and benefit from.

”When it comes to starting new boards, we're pretty much guided by what our users want. The Black Mumsnetters, SE Asian MNers, Craicnet, etc came about because users started threads requesting their own space. We'll certainly give consideration to a Jewish Mumsnetters section if there is demand. You're quite welcome to start a thread in Site Stuff to ask if others feel the same.”

I know many of us have felt very hurt by the moderation of Mumsnet this week, as anti semitic posters have been allowed to run wild while many factual comments that are supportive of the Jewish community have been deleted. I hope this may serve as an opportunity for Mumsnet to build much needed bridges.

I'm not Jewish but I'm pretty appalled that MNHQ has allowed overt antisemites, who have had deletions for comments attacking "Jews", to keep their accounts here. (One was deleted after failing to "moderate their language"; I guess the others have now successfully learned the code to use.) A board like this won't change the fact that MNHQ makes antisemites welcome, but it might give Jewish posters some refuge from them.

Not Jewish but support this & send my support to all Jews today. Terrifying times.

I'm not Jewish and so won't be on the boards, but I just want to say that this sounds like a great idea. I've done so much reporting of anti semetic comments on this site in the last few days that it's obviously much needed. I'm very sorry that that's the case.

Not Jewish but support.

Jewish and last posted anything on mumsnet about two years ago. Though I have been reading threads still. I would start posting again if there was a Jewish area.

I may be perfectly able to bat away people who try to turn every Jewish thread into an argument about I & P but frankly it is knackering and ruins threads. So I can't be arsed with it these days.

So yes give us a Jewish thread please.

I’m not Jewish but fully support a safe space for Jewish people.

Not Jewish, 100% support.

If appropriate, perhaps it might be possible to prevent the board from appearing in trending? Or for that option to be toggle-able?

Jo

I have mixed feelings about this.

I am openly Jewish.

I am often frustrated when MN takes down some of the anti-semitic posts. I've had posters say to me that they don't believe anti-semitism exists because they've never seen any. How can we refute something that has been erased?

Any philosophical, ethical or faith-related discussions are often completely Christian-centric. Other perspectives get drowned out.

So OTOH it would be nice to have a forum where we could discuss things from a Jewish perspective. But OTOH it is utterly naive to think such a forum would ever be a 'safe space'. It would constantly be targeted by anti-semites. Any discussion on circumcision or kosher meat would be hijacked. We would be expected to justify every Israeli sneeze.

And yet... why shouldn't we have the freedom to express ourselves?

I understand this perspective. I think it’s about providing options. I heavily report anti-semitism, but I also quote it and call it out so people see that there was anti-semitism there on the occasions it gets deleted. The space will certainly be targeted, and it will demonstrate that Jewish people are denied space, and maybe with some of the rules people have suggested here (not trending-active, minimum posting history on mumsnet to comment) it could be a slightly better space.

I support

I'm not Jewish but I absolutely support this. Some posts on MN lately have been horrendous.

You are right in all you say. I also think it can be better for everyone to see exactly what other posters are saying rather than deleting. A bit like I wanted Kanye West to continue his attack on Jewish for as long as possible. Therefore putting pay to any doubt about his jew-hate by others. Else all you get is people trying to defend him.

However in the case of a Jewish section there is an argument to say what is this arse doing here trying to cause trouble and mumsnet can remove them. That is how it seems to work on other minority sections. It won't be perfect but it will make the average idiot think twice about posting. Equally I am not black or Scottish but have in the past politely asked the odd question on those boards and they were very nice to answer me because I wasn't being an arse or wind up merchant.

I am not Jewish but my husband and children are partly Jewish by ethnicity, so we have fully Jewish family members.
I support a space for Jews .

I'm Jewish, and support this. Thanks OP.

Sorry that was for Dilbertian

I totally support this, not Jewish but I am horrified and disgusted at the blatant antisemitism on here and the random responses from MNHQ.

Yes please. Great idea!

I support the request too

Another non Jew who would support this

Adding my support.

I can only imagine the upset that this has caused the Jewish community. I am not Jewish but I too have also been appalled about what has been allowed to be aired. I have been monitoring the posts and reporting any blatant anti-semitism that I have found. I am shocked and saddened by some of the viewpoints that have been openly expressed.

Incase it is useful I actually messaged the Mumsnet HQ yesterday to ask about their moderation policy etc. You can see both my message below and their response incase it is useful.

"I wanted to know if you moderate or filter posts using keywords, either to filter or automatically block / flag for moderation, or to regularly search through by your teams?

This is as I have seen a lot of posts that almost certainly constitute hate speech or other similar potential criminal activity. They seem to be regularly posted and left up and not moderated or taken down until / unless they are manually reported by people. However, many of these could be intimidating or deeply upsetting for other people, especially if they are actually criminal in their content.

Additionally, I wanted to know if posts are reported forward onto the police if they are potentially inciting hate speech, racism and antisemitism, or hate crimes etc?"

This was their reply

"Thanks for getting in touch.

Mumsnet, like many large platforms, employs a notice and takedown system, encouraging users to report anything that may contravene our guidelines. We also utilise natural language processing and machine learning tools to help identify problematic posts.

We don't allow antisemitism or any hate speech on Mumsnet and our policy is to delete such posts and ban any posters who are repeat offenders. We acknowledge our moderation isn’t perfect (on a site as large as Mumsnet we’re always liable to miss things) but our intention is always to remove any kind of hate speech and we think we stand up well to some larger sites - the outright hate we’ve seen on other platforms wouldn’t be up for more than a couple of minutes on Mumsnet.

You are free to report anything you wish to the police.

As ever if you see something amiss please report it - there are around 30,000 posts per day on MN so we can’t hope to be across everything without your input. "

I'm not Jewish but I strongly support this proposal.

I sincerely hope you don't face the kind of hostile response that was experienced by those who requested a black mumsnetter board and a childfree board. Both have become valuable parts of MN, and I'm sure your new board will too.

I'm also not Jewish but support your request

I want to add my vote for this.

Strongly agree.